While digging through my winter coat pockets to remove stuff before washing, Caro unearthed a little journal Viv gave to me (a book store freebie) last winter. You know, it's about 1/4 the size of a sheet of paper, with a purple cover and elastic band to hold it shut. Neat little book. Anyway, I flipped through it, and even though I only filled about four little pages with stuff, this is the last thing I wrote before hanging up the coat for the season:

But times came & times passed
And future slipped into memory.
With our heads down & eyes shut tight,
We never even noticed.

Opportunities dropped like autumn leaves
Often blanketing our path ahead,
But with grace & skill you dodged
and stepped right past, & I followed behind.

Autumn leaves are falling once again. Tomorrow we stand before a judge who pronounces our marriage dissolved. Maybe if there's still time this fall, I will finally stop to pick up a few yellow, orange, and brown leaves and admire them.